New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin

An epic tale of Vladimir Putin's path to power, as he emerged from obscurity to become one of the world's most conflicted and im-portant leaders. Former New York Times Moscow Bureau Chief Steven Lee Myers has followed Putin since well before the recent events in the Ukraine, and gives us the fullest and most engaging account available of his rise to power. A gripping, page-turning narrative about Russian power and prestige, the book depicts a cool and calculating leader with enormous ambition and few scruples. As the world struggles to confront a newly assertive Russia, the importance of understand-ing Putin has never been greater. Vladimir Putin rose out of Soviet deprivation to the pinnacle of influence in the new Russian nation. He came to office in 2000 as a reformer, cutting taxes and expanding property rights, bringing a measure of order and eventually pros-perity to millions whose only experience of democracy in the early years fol-lowing the Soviet collapse was instability, poverty and criminality. But soon Putin orchestrated the preservation of a new kind of authoritarianism, consoli-dating power, reasserting his country's might, brutally crushing revolts and swiftly dispatching dissenters, even as he retained the support of many. ABOUT THE